Friday April 24 - Battle of Ashbourne
The nature of the terrain at the time In 1916, the roads at this point were narrower, and were bordered by a mix of high hedges, tall banks and drainage ditches. These features provided cover for the Volunteers and later for some of the RIC, and were used in the battle to cover a decisive movement by the Volunteers. The terrain helps explain the protracted nature of the battle, given the close range at which it was fought. It may also help explain the relatively low casualties of the Volunteers, as compared to the RIC. The first-phase – the attack on the RIC barracks at Ashbourne Around 10:00, three sections, each comprising roughly 12 men, led by Thomas Ashe with Richard Mulcahy as second-in-command, left the camp at Borranstown (about 3 kilometers in the direction of Garristown), with the objective of destroying the rail line at Batterstown. Their route would take them past the RIC barracks at Ashbourne (100 metres towards Ashbourne), and it was decided to put the barracks out of action before proceeding towards Batterstown. Arriving at the Rath Cross, three RIC men barricading the road were disarmed and two were taken prisoner. Later, when Ashe called on the RIC inside the barracks to surrender, they responded with a volley of shots and battle was joined. The Volunteers directed fire at the RIC from behind an embankment in front of the barracks. The exchange of fire continued intermittently for about half an hour. A home-made canister grenade was thrown at the barracks and exploded in the front garden. This broke the morale of the defenders and they thrust a white handkerchief through a window, offering to surrender. At this point, shots were heard from the crossroads, signaling the arrival of police reinforcements. The focus of the engagement shifted to the crossroads. The RIC men in the barracks took no further part in the action which followed. 'The second-phase – the engagement at the crossroads ' Shortly after midday, a contingent of 57 RIC officers, drawn from stations all over Meath, led by County Inspector Alexander ‘Baby’ Gray, arrived in a convoy of 15 cars. Shots from the Volunteers stationed at the crossroads halted the convoy, killing and wounding some of the occupants of the leading car, including Gray, who died 12 days later. Leaving two men to cover the barracks, the Volunteers made their way up the western side of the road to the crossroads, from where they fired into the convoy. Many of the policemen were pinned down in the open and under the cars, though some made it to the relative safety of the ditches on the eastern side of the road north of the crossroads. Ashe and Mulcahy, in a hasty conference on the Garristown Road decided to position a group to the north of the convoy to cut off an RIC retreat, while issuing orders to bring up the fourth section from the camp. Ashe guided a group of six Volunteers from a position two fields down the Garristown Road in an out-flanking move northwards and positioned them behind the convoy. Ashe then returned to the crossroads. The Volunteers north of the convoy came under fire and two were wounded. Retreating towards the Garristown road they engaged in an extended friendly fire incident with the reinforcements being brought up from the camp by Mulcahy. On reaching the Garristown road, Joe Lawless, who led the retreat from the northern flank, believed their position was overrun and informed Ashe of this. Acting on this information, Ashe and Hayes ordered a retreat from the crossroads. At this point Mulcahy arrived in pursuit of Lawless and having explained the confusion that led to the friendly fire incident, he convinced Ashe to halt the retreat, which was already underway. The second ‘friendly fire’ incident occurred during the short-lived retreat; as the Volunteers retreated from the crossroads, they were fired on by an outlying Volunteer. The fourth section by this time had moved to the north of the convoy. Shortly afterwards a group of 11 RIC men near the crossroads surrendered, their captured weapons and ammunition allowing the Volunteers to replenish their stocks. At the northern end of the convoy, District Inspector Harry Smyth, attempting to rally his men to break out from their position, stood up on the ditch, saw the Volunteers approaching and shot and mortally wounded Volunteer John Crennigan from Roganstown. Smyth was immediately shot by Frank Lawless and died shortly afterwards. The fall of Smyth broke the resolve of the RIC, and they began to surrender all down the road, as the Volunteers charged them from both ends. The battle had lasted for upwards of five hours. Category:Friday Category:Chronology